About the Journal
In Memory of Professor Jerzy Radecki
Editorial Office
Editorial Board
Scope
Impact Factor
Indexed in...
Journal Impact Factor contributing items
Contact
Subscription
Current issue
Online first
Notes to Authors
Frequently Asked Questions
Editorial policies
PJOES Publication Policy Overview
PJOES Peer Review Policy
PJOES Research Ethics and Malpractice Policy
PJOES Plagiarism Policy
PJOES Conflict of Interest Policy
PJOES Open Access Policy
PJOES Instructions for Reviewers
Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Policy
Archive
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Evaluation of the Haze Reduction
Effect of Innovative City Construction:
Evidence from Pilot Cities in China
1
School of Finance, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, 200433, China
2
Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong
Submission date: 2024-04-09
Final revision date: 2024-04-27
Acceptance date: 2024-05-12
Online publication date: 2024-09-23
Publication date: 2025-05-09
Corresponding author
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(4):4177-4187
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This article investigates the impact of innovative urban policies on haze pollution. Based on panel
data from 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2018, we use the difference-in-difference
method (DID) to estimate the governance effect of innovative city construction on haze pollution. We
find that the construction of innovative cities can reduce urban haze pollution, but this effect is mainly
reflected in the central region, cities with low innovation capacity, and cities with high FDI and environmental
regulation intensity. Further analysis reveals that the construction of innovative cities can
indirectly promote the suppression of urban haze pollution by adjusting industrial structure, promoting
government policy implementation, improving technological innovation efficiency, and promoting
human capital agglomeration. The conclusion of this article provides evidence for the government to
implement environmental protection and reduce haze pollution.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
REFERENCES (21)
1.
HAN L., ZHOU W., LI L. Impact of Urbanization Level on Urban Air Quality: A Case of Fine Particles (PM2.5) in Chinese Cities. Environmental Pollution, 194, 163, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envp... PMid:25113968.
2.
XU B., LIN B. How Industrialization and Urbanization Process Impacts on CO2 Emissions in China: Evidence from Nonparametric Additive Regression Models. Energy Economics, 48, 188, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enec....
3.
MA H., ZOU J., CAI H., ZHANG L. Administrative division adjustment and environmental pollution: Evidence from City-County Mergers in China. China Economic Review, 84, 102141, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chie....
4.
HE Q. Fiscal decentralization and environmental pollution: Evidence from Chinese Panel Data. China Economic Review, 36, 86, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chie....
5.
ZHONG S., XIONG Y., XIANG G. Environmental regulation benefits for whom? Heterogeneous effects of the intensity of the environmental regulation on employment in China. Journal of Environmental Management, 281, 111877, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenv... PMid:33370676.
6.
CAI H., CHEN Y., GONG Q. Polluting Thy Neighbor: Unintended Consequences of China's Pollution Reduction Mandates. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 76, 86, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem....
7.
ZHOU Q., ZHANG X., SHAO Q., WANG X. The nonlinear effect of environmental regulation on haze pollution: empirical evidence for 277 Chinese cities during 2002-2010. Journal of Environmental Management, 248 (15), 109274, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenv... PMid:31374433 PMCid:PMC7592848.
8.
ZHOU Q., ZHONG S., SHI T., ZHANG X. Environmental regulation and haze pollution: neighbor-companion or neighbor-beggar? Energy Policy, 151 (3), 112183, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpo....
9.
RAFF Z., EARNHART D. The effect of environmental enforcement on labor: environmental workers and production workers. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 57 (2), 118, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11149....
10.
HUANG K.F., YU C., SEETOO D. Firm innovation in policy-driven parks and spontaneous clusters: the smaller firm the better? The Journal of Technology Transfer, 37 (5), 715, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961....
11.
TIGABU A., BERKHOUT F., VAN B. The diffusion of a renewable energy technology and innovation system functioning: comparing bio-digestion in Kenya and Rwanda. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 90, 331, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tech....
12.
WANG Z., YANG L. Delinking indicators on regional industry development and carbon emissions: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic band case. Ecological Indicators, 48, 41, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecol....
13.
KUANG H., XIONG Y. Could environmental regulations improve the quality of export products? Evidence from China's implementation of pollutant discharge fee. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29, 81726, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356... PMid:35739452.
14.
TANG J., ZHONG S., XIANG G. Environmental regulation, directed technical change, and economic growth: theoretic model and evidence from China. International Regional Science Review, 42 (5-6), 519, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/016001....
15.
LI J., WANG X., WU Y. Can government improve tax compliance by adopting advanced information technology? Evidence from the Golden Tax Project III in China. Economic Modelling, 93, 384, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econ....
16.
GUO R., YUAN Y. Different types of environmental regulations and heterogeneous influence on energy efficiency in the industrial sector: Evidence from Chinese Provincial data. Energy Policy, 145 (10), 1, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpo....
17.
BASHIR M., MA B., SHAHBAZ M., SHAHAZD U., VO X. Unveiling the heterogeneous impacts of EPT on energy consumption and energy intensity: empirical evidence from OECD countries. Energy, 226, 120366, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ener....
18.
MA Z., HU X., SAYER A. Satellite-based spatiotemporal trends in PM2.5 concentrations: China, 2004-2013. Environmental Health Perspectives, 124 (2), 184, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.14... PMid:26220256 PMCid:PMC4749081.
19.
BERTRAND M., DUFLO E., MULLAINATHAN S. How much should we trust differences-in-differences estimates? The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119 (1), 249, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355... PMCid:PMC8105046.
20.
SUN L., ABRAHAM S. Estimating Dynamic Treatment Effects in Event Studies with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects. Journal of Econometrics, 225 (2), 175, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeco....
21.
BURSZTYN L., CANTONI D., YANG D., YUCHTMMAN N. Persistent political engagement: social interactions and the dynamics of protest movements. American Economic Review: Insights, 3 (2), 233, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1257/aeri.2....
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
